While we live in these earthly bodies, we groan and sigh, but it’s not that we want to die and get rid of these bodies that clothe us. Rather, we want to put on our new bodies so that these dying bodies will be swallowed up by life. 2 Corinthians 5:4
He has planted eternity in the human heart. Ecclesiastes 3:11
For to me, living means living for Christ, and dying is even better. But if I live, I can do more fruitful work for Christ. So I really don’t know which is better. I’m torn between two desires: I long to go and be with Christ, which would be far better for me. But for your sakes, it is better that I continue to live. Philippians 1:21-24
“No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.” 1 Corinthians 2:9
THE REALITIES OF HEAVEN
“How you think about Heaven affects everything in life-how your prioritize love, how willing you are willing to sacrifice for the long term, how you view suffering, what you fear or don’t fear.” John Burke
1. A PERFECT IDENTITY
Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely. Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love. 1 Corinthians 13:12-13
You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it. Psalm 139:13-14
2. A PERFECT COMMUNITY
May your Kingdom come; may your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Matthew 6:10 GNT
You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: Love your neighbor as yourself. The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments. Matthew 22:37-40
After all, what gives us hope and joy, and what will be our proud reward and crown as we stand before our Lord Jesus when he returns? It is you! Yes, you are our pride and joy. 1 Thessalonians 2:19-20
Use your worldly resources to benefit others and make friends. Then, when your possessions are gone, they will welcome you to an eternal home. Luke 16:9
3. A PERFECT CITY
“See, I will create new heavens and a new earth… for I will create Jerusalem to be a delight and its people a joy. I will rejoice over Jerusalem and take delight in my people; the sound of weeping and of crying will be heard in it no more. They will build houses and dwell in them; they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit. Before they call I will answer; while they are still speaking I will hear. The wolf and the lamb will feed together…They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain,” says the Lord. Isaiah 65:17-25
So he took me in the Spirit to a great, high mountain, and he showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God. It shone with the glory of God and sparkled like a precious stone—like jasper as clear as crystal. The city wall was broad and high, with twelve gates guarded by twelve angels. I saw no temple in the city, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. And the city has no need of sun or moon, for the glory of God illuminates the city, and the Lamb is its light. Revelation 21:10-12;22-23
4. A PERFECT CHOICE
Luke 15:11-19
Luke 15:20-24
1 Peter 3:18
And I will give to each one a white stone, and on the stone will be engraved a new name that no one understands except the one who receives it. Revelations 2:17
